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Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Mostly Wants Out - To An Unadoptable Dog on his Birthday

A year ago yesterday, I started a trend. It wasn't something that you'd find on the catwalks of Paris or in the sales forecast of the latest DotCom. The trend was continuing my work rescuing senior dogs. Boo Boo was the first, but when something happens once, it could just be an accident. In some ways it was. I didn't think I had it in me to care for a dog as old. Somehow it all worked out and in the end there was a promise to continue to find dogs like him and find some way to give them a bit more time in a happy home.

I didn't adopt him because he was "unadoptable." I did it because he had a nice face. It continues to be a face greeting me first thing in the morning and looking for some help to track down the rabbit menace. His attitude was 180 degrees different from Boo Boo. Rusty was going to be Rusty no matter what anyone else thought, whereas Boo Boo was just happy going along with anything asked of him as long as it didn't stress him out. What they both had was "the look." Just a little crinkling of the eyebrows denoting a certain anxiousness to be ready for anything.

In a day we were used to one another.
In a week and a half he had stopped being aggressive toward every other dog that we came across.
In two weeks he'd get weepy and frustrated if we couldn't meet every dog that crossed our paths.

I had been warned by his foster dad that he was a lot to handle and that if there was any problems that he'd take him back. He had already had Rusty returned twice and had been rejected by at least one rescue organization as unadoptable.

One year ago I gave a dog who some saw as friendly and many avoided due to his attitude a chance. In return I got a friend who literally has my back when I bend down to tie my shoes during our walks and when I'm a little frustrated by the world in general is ready to flop over on his back and give me that goofy upside-down grin of his that make me smile every time.

"Mostly Wants Out" refers to a comment I found in his records from one of his keepers. I don't think that Rusty can tell the future, but I do think that he always knew that there was something better out there for him and I hope in some small way I'm helping to provide that for him.